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Who I Am, What I Believe, and What I Hope to Accomplish with This Writing Thing

by Brandon

This writing gig has been a fun ride so far, and I hope the fun’s just beginning. My blog’s now well over 10,000 views, folks are enjoying my books, I’m having fun on the Books From Hale Facebook Page, and I’m having fun with Garv and the gang over at Quiet Room Entertainment (and QRE’s Facebook page). I stay pretty busy and I’ve really put myself out there, but I realized tonight that I don’t think I’ve ever properly introduced myself. I think it’s time to rectify that…

Who I Am:

I’m Brandon Hale.

I’m just a guy who likes to tell stories and I hope others enjoy the stories I tell.

I’m married to a strong, beautiful, and tolerant woman who somehow manages to keep me confident and humble at the same time.

I’m nobody special. I haven’t invented time travel or flying cars or anything cool like that.

I can tell a pretty good story, so I don’t feel too badly about my inability to invent time travel or flying cars. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, I suppose.

What I Believe:

Here are some life rules I try to live by. Keep in mind, these rules are for me. I’m not preaching here. I write adventure stories, not self-help books. I have no idea how well these rules will work for you.

Also, in the interest of being honest, I fully admit that these are more guidelines than they are rules. I fail often, but I give it my best shot to stick to them.

Rules I try to live by:

I try my best to never say no to laughter. Laughter is an emotional oasis in a desert of cynicism. Turning it down is like turning down a sip of water after 12 hours in the Sahara.

I try to be as happy as I can be without taking away from anyone else’s happiness.

I forgive other people whenever I get the opportunity. Holding a grudge won’t really hurt them, but it has the power to make my life pretty crappy.

I forgive myself whenever I can. I’m gonna screw up, but I try not to dwell on it when I do. Holding a grudge against myself is just as pointless as holding a grudge against other people.

Typically, I dream big. I’m a firm believer that our biggest obstacle is usually our eagerness to accept what can’t be done. Failure sucks, but failing to try sucks more.

I’m silly often. Being silly is more powerful than most people know.

I try to be humble. I never pretend to be humble. Humility is important. I’m nothing special. I’m fully aware of that. I’m also aware that I have strengths and I have weaknesses. Way too often, I see people proudly announcing their weakness and frantically denying their strengths. I think that’s the exact opposite of how we should be. I am in a constant state of self-improvement, but that doesn’t mean I have to pretend there’s nothing good about me. In life, we will regularly meet people who’ll try to take away our accomplishments. I refuse to help them do it.

I have more guidelines, but those are some of the big ones. Moving on…

What I Hope to Accomplish with This Writing Thing.

The first part of this is obvious: I hope to support my family by doing what I love. I don’t care if I’m never rich and I don’t care if I’m never famous. If my bills are paid by doing the thing I love, I’m happy.

I also have writing goals that involve you, the reader.

I want to be an author who isn’t separated from his readers. I want the writing process to be a collaboration. I want to hear from you and I want to factor that into my writing. I think the digital age gives us a great opportunity for authors and readers to develop an actual relationship beyond the merchant/customer dynamic.

In short, I want to write what you want to read.

My next release is a good example. I was trying to decide between writing a series of novellas that take place in the Day Soldiers reality. That was originally my next project.

A reader suggested that I write a Day Soldiers Manual, so I asked you folks (on Facebook) which you’d rather see first. The response I got was overwhelmingly in favor of a Day Soldiers Survival Manual.

I immediately started on the manual. I hope to have it done and released some time next week.

Another example is a bundled edition of the Day Soldiers Trilogy. I got a few requests from readers for it, so I put it to a vote. The majority of folks supported the idea. What really won me over was a response I got from a reader who said it would be a nice and easy way for her to give the books as a gift. I immediately went to work on it and it’s now available on Amazon.

I love interacting with you folks. I love knowing what you like and what you don’t like. I don’t have to rely on statistics or expert analyses. Instead, I rely on you.

I absolutely love that, and it’s my hope that the barriers between authors and readers will continue to fall.

So that’s my introduction to you.

Of course, there’s more to me than what I’ve said here. This is just an introduction.